Sounds normal to me.
I've always had to email a little on the weekends when in manager roles.
Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
61–70 of 114 posts
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#62This is somewhat cultural: it would not be considered unacceptable in many startups in the US, where I am right now. But your username and grammar make me wonder whether you're French and in France, are you? If you are, I think it may actually be an illegal request. European attitudes towards work are extremely different to US ones, which are themselves more relaxed than e.g. East Asian. From https://newatlas.com/rig…
Haha you almost got me, french yes, france no: Québec Canada :) I will look up the law to be sure !
I'd say it's a perfectly reasonable request given that you manage over a third of the company. But I wouldn't be surprised if there was a law against it in Québec... worth finding out and informing the CEO if there is.
Is this a matter of principle for you or were you planning to go to some remote are with no Internet? If the latter, you could just explain the situation to your boss and they will probably understand.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#63Completely unacceptable.
All of my managers were available during vacation if something truly blows up. But they never planned to dedicate a few hours for work on their vacations.
What your company needs is better processes and policies. iirc, most my managers planned their vacations so that it was not right before or after major releases or other events.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#64In the company where I worked that was expected of professional level staff. We could not afford to lose clients. We typically checked email daily and were available by phone in an emergency. People did not abuse this.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#65I went through a period of my life over several years where I did this. I was pretty much on, checking emails and responding whenever I was awake. I found it to be a horrible life balance when I finally stopped, realized my health had deteriorated and I had missed key moments of my daughters early life.
If the company will truly fall apart when you become unavailable, then you are doing it wrong. Hire people you can trust, train them, maintain well-defined processes in some Body of Knowledge repository. Then let people know who to contact for what. Give clear and accurate criteria for the emergencies when you should be called/texted. Then be present always, whether it is work or vacation. You'll find your happiness increases, your job output increases, and the people you work with will grow and be happier for it.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#66From the corporate perspective, the problem is that work should not, and cannot, shutdown, because you've gone on vacation. In a company of sufficient resource, you would normally be able to offload the management onto someone else for the duration (eg your #2, or a peer) But this is not your case -- you have only 6 people -- there's no one to offload onto. The size of your group is such that everyone is presumably v…
The only reasonable option there is the third one, and the company itself suffers the backlash for running on such a high bus factor. Vacation is for vacation, not work. If you're asked to stay on call then you better be paid for it. After all, you're not one of the founders, you're an employee. If a business can't survive with a week or two of planning or delegation then it has other problems. Eating vacation is jus…
However, you're not a low-level resource; especially in a 6-man company. Being given responsibility for your team, you are responsible for it -- good or bad. It's your duty to ensure your team is capable of limited autonomy (if they were believed to be capable of full autonomy, your role as manager is redundant, and the hierarchy shouldn't have been created in the first place)
If you haven't yet created the necessary environment that you can just step out for some time, then working beyond working-hours is the inevitable result.
If you've noted and escalated the problem -- that this environment cannot be setup without whatever additional resources/support -- then that's your safety net against any backlash. (It's now your bosses fault if he's aware and does nothing). But if you haven't... the onus remains on you
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#67Assuming that this is not already covered by your contract, and that you are not going to flatly refuse, it may be worth thinking about possible areas of negotiation.
For example, if you have to be available for 3h per week, you might suggest retaining 1 vacation day of that week. Similarly, you could suggest that you retain the vacation day if you end up working more than one hour on any given day of your vacation.
As well as ensuring you aren't giving away your vacation time for free, this also sets boundaries. The risk here is that your 3h a week effectively turns into you being on call for the vacation.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#68Depends on the situation, you could say he’s wrong based on how people here draw a line, but to just pick and choose their principles it is risky. You didn’t explain enough of the situation, your work culture, boss personality, your relationship with him, and company size for a more accurate assessments. If he’s an ass he could look for ways to push you out, and if you are in certain financial situations you may want to play it a certain way
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#69This is somewhat cultural: it would not be considered unacceptable in many startups in the US, where I am right now. But your username and grammar make me wonder whether you're French and in France, are you? If you are, I think it may actually be an illegal request. European attitudes towards work are extremely different to US ones, which are themselves more relaxed than e.g. East Asian. From https://newatlas.com/rig…
Haha you almost got me, french yes, france no: Québec Canada :) I will look up the law to be sure !
I'm not a lawyer / Je ne suis pas avocat:
https://www.cnt.gouv.qc.ca/conges-et-absences/vacances/vacan...
It says you're supposed to be able to take your vacation uninterrupted. You might want to check with them.
Re: Ask HN: My boss ask I take my emails while on vacation
#70This is somewhat cultural: it would not be considered unacceptable in many startups in the US, where I am right now. But your username and grammar make me wonder whether you're French and in France, are you? If you are, I think it may actually be an illegal request. European attitudes towards work are extremely different to US ones, which are themselves more relaxed than e.g. East Asian. From https://newatlas.com/rig…
Haha you almost got me, french yes, france no: Québec Canada :) I will look up the law to be sure !
In my opinion, law is a bit irrelevant here. You should know what you want to do, if you don't want to do it then decline and see how it goes; If you feel like doing it accept it. Do not let those small details alter your aspirations, in the end all it matters is what you want to do. You are obviously skilled enough to find another job, so do not be afraid to stand up for yourself.